Update on Pain Management After Advanced Surface Ablation

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an update for postoperative pain control strategies to help ophthalmic surgeons establish a more effective management plan for patients who underwent advanced surface ablation surgeries. METHODS: Google Scholar, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and PubMed were the main resources used to search the medical literature. RESULTS: The postoperative cornea's healing process is accompanied by intense pain as the chief complaint in the first days after the operation. Several strategies were developed to relieve postoperative pain after surface ablation procedures. These strategies included different preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative methods. Considering the preoperative demographic and emotional factors, underlying dry eye, alternative epithelial removal techniques, bandage contact lenses, and topical or oral therapeutic agents are some examples of postoperative pain treatments after surface ablation procedures. CONCLUSIONS: The current review revealed that despite the development of numerous protocols to relieve postoperative pain following surface ablations, the best approach could be a combination of different strategies. In practice, no validated and standardized strategy is available for total elimination of postoperative pain following advanced surface ablation surgeries. [ J Refract Surg . 2021;37(11):782–790.]

Comparison of Postoperative Symptoms of Alcohol-Assisted Versus Mechanical Epithelial Removal in Photorefractive Keratectomy: A Contralateral Double Blind Clinical Trial

“…15,19 As a result, the management of post-PRK pain is one of the main concerns in refractive surgeries. 20 Understanding the intense post-PRK pain seems critical for setting a management plan. 21 The eyelid movements over the postoperative exposed nerve terminals of the frontal stromal layer cause profound pain.…”